The identity of a 3-year-old boy killed Thursday afternoon in Escondido has been released by the county Medical Examiner’s Office.
Gerardo Sosa was struck and killed on the 440 block of West 4th Avenue in Escondido at about 4 p.m. Thursday, after he unbuckled his child seat and exited the van his mother was driving.
The mother backed her van into a cul-de-sac and felt like she had run over something, the examiner’s report said. At that time, the mother noticed her son wasn’t in his child seat and found him on the ground outside her vehicle with blood on his face.
She immediately drove him to Downtown Palomar Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead despite efforts to resuscitate him.
Escondido police officer Steve Brauncht said earlier this week that neither alcohol nor drugs played a role in the accident and criminal charges are not expected to be filed.
“The driver, unaware that the child was outside the vehicle, pulled forward to complete the parking maneuver, and struck the child,” the officer said.
The child celebrated his third birthday last month.
—City News Service
